Mencoder TimelapseAges ago I blogged about creating timelapse videos from my GoPro using Mencoder. This takes the output JPEGs from the camera (at 10s intervals) and the uses Mencoder to stack them in to an MJPEG using this command:
mencoder "mf://*....

Drone RangersGreat short "Future Works" film from The Economist on the Drone Rangers..... very nicely researched and presented looking at monitoring poaching in South Africa, to disaster response in the USA and then construction site monitoring. Lots of nice examples (thanks to Paolo for passing on).

Journal of Maps 2014 Impact FactorIt's that time of year again, yes Impact Factors are out and whether we like it or not authors and journals, alongside all those who rank them, will be sifting through the data to see who's up and who's down!...

Environment Agency LiDAR to become open dataGreat news over at the Environment Agency blog noting that their extensive LiDAR back catalog will (from September 2015) become open data available from Datashare. This is a a valuable data source and one of the most extensive LiDAR datasets available for the UK.

OPEN ACCESS EPRINT: Optimising UAV image quality using consumer camerasO'Connor, J. and Smith, M.J. (2015)
Geomatics World
Surveys using UAVs and photogrammetry are becoming ubiquitous. It is in the community’s best interests to remember the fundamentals of image capture. James O'Connor and Mike J Smith of the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Kingston University review the main considerations for image capture when undertaking an aerial survey using consumer grade cameras and make recommendations for acquiring the best imagery.

GeoBigIts a bit twee in its connotations, but "big data" keeps popping up all over the place. My brother sent me the link to this story: "5 Ways Big Geospatial Data Is Driving Analytics In the Real World". There is nothing overly new or exciting in the actual research itself, however what is interesting is how "geo" is now overtly mainstream. A lot of the benefits and issues associated with geodata are now more widely understood and appreciated meaning that more people want to use it. Definitely boom times...

Be bold, Be BladDPReview report on the latest aerial camera range from Hasselblad, the A5D. These are medium format cameras that compete directly with the Phase Range range I reported on earlier (the 80MP iXU180). Three models at 40, 50 and 60 MP, with up to 14 stops dynamic range with a 53x40 or 44x33mm sensor (technical specs here). Weighting in at 1.3kg (body only) its slightly heavier as well.
Clearly the medium format aerial imaging space is heating up a lot - sales are likely much higher than bespoke large format cameras and used across a range of platforms including UAVs. Expect this to get better and cheaper with the competitive drive. Exciting times!

Liam Neeson Kill MapClearly Liam is one badass guy!!!! Love the kill map just for the way it presents information that you find yourself asking for during a movie. In my case (re)watching "Taken" and thinking, whats the body count in this?? Star Wars 1 surprised me though.... I wonder who holds the cinematic record?! Anyway, its nicely designed and more as an infographic, but still feel it could be improved.
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International Map Year 2015Well the International Map Year has passed me by up until this point... that said it formally kicks off at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro in August 2015 and runs through until December 2016. As the website says: "International Map Year (IMY) is a worldwide celebration of maps and their unique role in our world. It's organized by the International Cartographic Assocation (ICA) and supported by the United Nations (UN)."
So things are just starting to get going - there's a helpful news item in the ICA newsletter. Interestingly no UK organising committee...yet!

USGS Earth Explorer Bulk DownloaderWhen wanting to download data from the USGS I've found that EarthExplorer is one of the easiest to use products and rapidly pulls together datasets that you might be interested in....

VOTE NOW !! OS PhotofitThe Ordnance Survey is currently mid-way through their competition to source (cheaply?!) new photographs for the covers of the iconic series of maps - the competition is called Photofit with the first two rounds now having closed (the next covers the iconic 1:50k Landranger series)....

!! 1000th Blog Post !!This post marks the 1000th entry for the Spaced-OoooO-Out blog. My first post was on 12 September 2005 outlining a talk I gave at the Society of Cartographers annual meeting in Cambridge on the Journal of Maps....

Credit card for travel?I'm off to the 6th Argentine Congress on Quaternary Geomorphology (or the rather handy Google Translate version!) shortly so have been prepping various academic and travel things ready for the trip. One thing I stumbled across which might be useful to other (UK) travelers is paying abroad - credit cards are obviously dead handy in this regard but usually charge a foreign transaction fee. Not so the Halifax Clarity Credit Card which is free on foreign transaction and, indeed, free on cash withdrawals. If you pay off your card monthly then this is a great deal.

QGIS PrimerAlthough a little dated (it was produced using v2.0 and we are currently on v.2.81) Lex berman's QGIS Workshop is a very easy to access and use intro and primer to QGIS, with a smattering of useful links. Worth looking through for hints and tips.

OS Open DataOS recently provided a recent update on their OpenData products as a reminder of what is available and some of the new products. Indeed, take a look at their main OpenData page, the products page and the download page. There are some really good products here including Meridian (medium scale vector), Terrain 50 (medium scale DEM), CodePoint (postcodes), BoundaryLine (administrative boundaries) and a range of raster products. Very good for a range of mapping projects and all using the very flexible Open Government License. Enjoy!

Eclipse MapsFeels appropriate, given the eclipse across northern Europe (very nearly now!) to post about the topic..... and point people to the very good Eclipse Maps (Esri employee by day, eclipse fanatic by night). Below is an example from a couple of years ago - really nicely produced and very clear. Worldwide eclipses 2001-2020 are shown here.... the gallery has a good range of maps both historical and predicted.

Treasure the voiceA really powerful talk from Julian Treasure at Ted. He starts with the seven deadly sins of speaking - why aren't people listening to you - before moving on to the four powerful cornerstones of speaking....